The First and Second World Wars, the great depression, oil shocks, inflation, financial crises, stock market crashes, the collapse of the Soviet command economy and Third World disasters are discussed in this comprehensive book. The contributors subject these disasters to in-depth assessment, carefully considering their costs and impact on specific countries and regions, as well as assessing them in a global context. The book examines the legacy of economic disasters and asks whether economic disasters are avoidable or whether policymakers can learn from their mistakes.

First published in 1997, this volume responds to the Conservative intention of conducting economic policy along monetarist lines after winning the General Election in May 1979. Michael J. Oliver argues that the monetarist strategy was rejected for several reasons during the 1980s, including the recession of the early 1980s, the change in attitude to the role of the exchange rate and disagreements between politicians and policy-makers. It is shown that the disputes between Chancellor Nigel Lawson, Lady Thatcher and her economic adviser, Sir Alan Walters, are central to explaining why...